


honesty

by cougarlips



Series: fanille week 2018 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fanille Week, MINOR snow/serah and light/hope, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Post-Lightning Returns, new world fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 15:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cougarlips/pseuds/cougarlips
Summary: Vanille looked to her left, at the woman with wild hair and a suit the color of storm clouds. Fang nodded once, shortly, silently reassuring Vanille from the other side of the room.





	honesty

**Author's Note:**

> another year, another [fanille week](https://fanilleweek.tumblr.com)!!!! a humongous shoutout to [mary](https://bisexualkorras.tumblr.com) for hosting it again this year. i really tried to write outside of my comfort zone, so this fic is something different for me. it has...........................................................dialogue

Standing at the podium with microphones of all shapes and sizes before her, Vanille felt invincible.

“How long until your center is opened to the public?”

“How long has this project been in the works?”

“Who is providing the funding for such an ambitious non-profit project?

“What made you want to start this endeavor now? Why not wait until later?”

“Why bother?”

She stood tall, her posture erect, chin held high.

One by one, Vanille addressed the reporters. “We’ll begin taking in anyone willing to come tomorrow, but our grand opening won’t be for another month,” she began, a warm smile on her lips.

For years, she’d dreamt of this: of a home for the lost, for the orphaned and abandoned. She’d dreamt of building an organization up out of love and spreading her own as far as it would reach and then even further still. “I’ve been actively working on this endeavor for just over four years. The hard part was finding a location big enough to suit our needs and then come up with the funds to purchase and renovate the space.”

“We only accept charitable donations, and as long as we continue to operate it will stay that way,” Vanille declared, deliberately meeting the suspicious reporter’s gaze. “Every expense thus far has been paid for out of pocket, and no one utilizing our services will ever be forced to spent so much as a penny.”

At the next reporter, Vanille took a deep breath. “I think the real question is, why didn’t I start this sooner?” She let her words hang for a moment before she addressed the crowd again.

“This is a passion project, yes,” she admitted, “but it’s also more than that. I could never sit idly by knowing I could’ve done something to help someone. I know my own actions can only reach but so far – that’s why I wanted to start this organization.”

Vanille looked to her left, at the woman with wild hair and a suit the color of storm clouds. Fang nodded once, shortly, silently reassuring Vanille from the other side of the room. Vanille let the tension in her shoulders melt away before turning to face the reporters once more.

“When I was a kid, I lost everything,” Vanille told them. “I had no home, no family, and little formal education. I was fortunate enough to be found by a man who took me in as his own and taught me everything he could. I’ll never be able to repay him for everything he did for me, but maybe through this organization I can pay his generosity forward.

“Why bother?” she asked, turning the final reporter’s words back on him. “If I didn’t have this man’s unconditional love and support, I wouldn’t have continued moving forward. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to make real change.”

She stepped away from the microphones and the cameras and turned away, her heart racing in her chest but otherwise contentment settling inside her.

Of course, it was Snow who first threw his arms around her, lifting her up in a hug only Snow Villiers could get away with. “That was _amazing_ , Vanille!” he exclaimed, his eyes glittering with excitement when she finally stood still long enough to see them. “You couldn’t have a better first press conference if you wanted too, honestly –”

Light shoved him aside but embraced Vanille with warm arms, too. “It’s all coming together,” she said.

“I can’t believe Sazh wasn’t here to hear you sing his praises,” Hope teased from behind Light, but Serah wagged her finger at him.

“ _Or didn’t I_?” a voice called out from the doorway, and a chorus of yells sounded as he made his way through, baby Dajh sat on top of his shoulders with a cheesy grin on his face. "We got the day to ourselves, right Dajh? Mom would've come, but she couldn't get the afternoon. She'll be by later, though," he assured Vanille.

The group continued to banter while Vanille let herself drift into the backdrop, smiling at her family. It truly felt like a millennia since they all met the very first time, but even in this new world they defied the odds and found their ways back towards one another.

Vanille felt Fang snake an arm around her waist and smiled at the contact, her stomach fluttering when Fang pressed a kiss to Vanille’s neck only moments later. “Congratulations, Vanille,” Fang whispered. “We’re officially in business.”

“You say that like we weren’t already,” Vanille countered.

Fang shrugged, but then she turned a teasing grin on her partner. “I noticed you conveniently left my _generous donations_ out of our press conference.”

She shook her head. “They weren’t donations, and you know it. You and I both paid out of pocket to make a lot of this work.” And then she looked up at Fang, eyes too wide in mock innocence. “It’s not my fault you’re the money bags in this relationship.”

Fang’s eyes narrowed playfully. “Oh, really? What exactly are you implying there?”

Hearing the tease, Lightning interrupted. “She’s only using you for your money, Fang,” she declared, earning raucous laughter from the rest of the party. “You should divorce her and marry me, instead.”

“If that’s the case,” Hope added “Fang’s only using you for your looks, Vanille. You’re wasted with her. If our wives are going to leave us for each other, we might as well stick together.”

Vanille laughed with everyone else as the conversation continued to spiral out of control, but as Fang wrapped her arm around Vanille and Vanille let herself be tucked away, she couldn’t remember ever feeling so content before in any of her lives.

**Author's Note:**

> rebloggable version can be found [here](https://bisoras.tumblr.com/post/173720623203/) on my tumblr uAu. comments and crits are always welcome!


End file.
